Knitted fabric and method of making the same



April 17, 1956 RUNTON ET AL KNITTED FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Feb. 11, 1955 115152 /f A. fiu/vro/v f/vaey United States Patent KNITTED FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Leslie A. Runton, Harrison, and Emory P. Mersereau, Jr.,

Thornwood, N. Y., assignors to Alexander Smith, Incorporated, Yonkers, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 11, 1955, Serial No. 487,665

2 Claims. (Cl. 28-76) This invention relates to knitted fabrics and has for an object to provide a knitted fabric having novel and improved characteristics.

Another object is to provide a knitted fabric in which at least some of the yarns are coiled in a novel manner.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved method for making said fabric.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The present invention provides for the pretreatment of the yarn to condition the yarn to produce the novelty effect after being knitted on standard knitting equipment.

In one embodiment the yarn is composed of two or more plies which are plied together and given a hard twist, either in the same direction as the singles twist or in the opposite direction, and is permanently set in hand twisted condition. If the yarn is ply-twisted in the same direction as the singles twist a hard tight yarn is produced, whereas if the twist is in the opposite direction a somewhat softer, looser effect is obtained. The permanent set may be effected by standard techniques, depending upon the material of the yarn and may be effected while the yarn is held under straightening tension or while the yarn is relaxed, depending upon the final effect which it is desired to produce.

The hard-twisted, permanently set yarn is then reverse twisted a suflicient number of turns to pass the zero twist point and to impart a loose twist in the reverse direction to the ori inal ply twist. The final reverse twist may have, for example, about one-half of the number of turns of the original ply twist.

This reverse twisted yarn is then given a temporary set by known methods while held under straightening tension. In the case of wool and other yarns having similar characteristics such a temporary set may be given for example, by controlled steaming in an apparatus of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,695,509 dated November 30, 1954.

In the case of nylon and other yarns having similar characteristics the temporary set may be given for example by treatment as set forth in copending application Serial No. 464,615 filed October 25, 1954.

The temporarily straight-set, reverse-twisted yarn is now fed to a standard knitting machine, either alone or in combination with a standard non-reverse twisted yarn and is knitted into fabric in the usual manner.

The knitted fabric is then treated to remove the temporary set. In the case of steam set yarn the temporary set may be removed by steaming or wetting and drying in a non-constrained state. In the case of nylon or the like the set may be removed by washing and drying while in non-constrained state.

The removal of the temporary set permits the nonconstrained yarn to be deformed due to the internal stresses produced by the reverse twisting. These stresses cause the plies to separate and coil into the general form of interleaved helices with a consequent shrinkage in yarn length. If the fabric is composed of a mixture of pretreated, reverse-twisted yarn and standard yarn the shrinkage in length of the reverse twisted yarn produces smaller knitted loops and causes the fabric to gather and form loose loops in the standard yarn. Thus by selecting the combination of yarns various novelty effects can be produced.

Various products embodying the invention are shown in the drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a detail view of a knitted fabric composed of the reverse twisted yarn and prior to treatment to remove the temporary set;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of the same fabric after the relaxing treatment;

Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating a fabric composed of knitted standard yarn with floats of reverse twisted yarn secured therein;

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a knitted fabric composed of standard yarn with reverse twisted yarn secured bights with the standard yarn and with loose floats therebetween; and

Fig. 5 is a similar detail view of a knitted fabric composed partly of standard yarn and partly of reverse twisted yarn.

Referring to the drawing more in detail the fabric of Fig. 1 is formed of yarn 10 which is knitted in the usual manner to form loops 11 and bights 12. The yarn 10 is of the reverse twisted type described above with a temporary straight set so that as knitted it is identical in form with a standard knitted fabric. When the fabric of Fig. 1 is treated to remove the temporary set from the yarn, the yarn plies separate and coil into interleaved helices as indicated at 14 in Fig. 2. The coils are somewhat irregular and the size of the loops is reduced due to the reduction in length of the yarn as it forms the coils 14. The fabric of Fig. 2 is soft and full with increased resilience and coverage.

In the embodiment of Fig. 3 the fabric is composed of standard yarn 20 which is knitted in the usual manner to form loops 21 and bights 22. A reverse twisted yarn 23 is secured in certain bights 22 with floats 24 therebetween. After removing the temporary set the yarn 23 in the floats coils and contracts while the standard yarn retains its original form. The floats 24 tend to pull the loops 21 together and produce a loose fiuify effect.

The embodiment of Fig. 4 is similar to that of Fig. 3 except that the reverse twisted yarn 25 is fed into spaced bights 26 with standard yarn 27 and spans one or more intermediate bights to form floats 28 in which the plies are separated and coiled as above described with constrained yarn portions between bights 26.

In Fig. 5 standard yarn 30 and reverse twisted yarn 31 are alternated in the knitted fabric to form loops 32 of standard yarn and loops 33 of the reverse twisted yarn in which the plies are separated and interleaved with fioats therebetween.

Obviously other combinations may be made in accordance with any desired pattern.

Although specific embodiments have been shown for purposes of illustration the invention may be adapted to various uses and changes and modifications may be made therein as will be apparent to a person skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of making a knitted fabric which comprises hard twisting a multi-ply yarn, setting the same in hard twisted condition, reverse twisting said yarn a suflicient number of turns to pass the zero twist point and impart a loose twist in the opposite direction, temporarily setting said reverse twisted yarn while held under straightening tension, knitting said straight set yarn into a knitted fabric to form loops and bights and then removing the temporary set from said yarn while non-constrained to References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Taubel Mar. 1, 1927 Page et a1 Mar. 5, 1940 Feild et a1. Jan. 2, 1951 Neumager June 16, 1953 Mersereau et a1 Dec. 15, 1953 

